RIO DE JANEIRO, August 14, 2016 - The harder they try, the harder it gets.
So it has been with the best people who ever lived.
Thrice they tried. Four times they failed.
In the end they bluntly admit Mo Farah is one of the finest track runners, he could fall someday, but not for now.
It may take a while.
Nearly half a decade later, Kenyans bury their heads in shame their search for a 10 000m Olympic medal continues.
Ethiopians, full of unreserved apology, they have failed to match the brilliance of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, the two time winners of the Olympic longest track gold.
Their combined efforts not good enough to stop a tumbled Farah from his second 10 000m Olympic gold, the fifth man to win consecutive gold medals over the distance at the games on Saturday.
The British world and Olympic double track distance runner for a moment saw his hope for a medal blown, as he tripped and fell with 15 laps to go as the tall Ethiopian sluggishly paced the field in front as compatriot Yigrem Demelash and a spirited Kenyan charge led by Paul Tanui, Geoffrey Kamworor and Bidan Karoki in tow.
It was a tempo that allowed Farah to catch up and sneak his way to fourth with about 4km to go, then uncertain whether they would seek to exploit his fall and surge forward. Fortunately, they were too glued on their own races.
He stayed at a touching distance with the split times of 67/68 seconds that helped the Somali born runner regain his footing firmly in the race.
Demelash felt strong enough to push picking up Tanui and Karoki with five laps to go, set on dropping off Farah and the Kenyan rivals but he stayed put, waiting for the moment to strike.
Farah's comeback
At that point Kamworor, the world silver medallist, one of the expected challengers for the gold was seemingly struggling and had dropped to the back of the single file lead pack of about nine runners.
The bell was the signal for Farah to kick with Tanui charging behind. For a moment the Kenyan appeared to have unlocked the Farah puzzle, but at the last bend the British sprinted past for the first of two planned track medals here in Rio in 27:05.17.
Tanui raced to a season best of 27:05.64 while Tola confirmed Ethiopia are on the podium for a record 10th time in the history of the games clocking 27:06.26 for bronze.
Yigrem was fourth (27:06.27), American Rupp Galen fifth in 27:08.92.
“When I went down I thought, ‘Oh my God that is it’. I was trying to come back as fast as I can. I said ‘don’t panic!, don’t panic!’ and ‘get back through with it’. Mentally I was thinking is the race done? And I kept thinking no no I came here for the medal.
“As I got up I was thinking maybe the guys in front had seen it and they could try to surge but they didn’t,” said a grinning Farah on his gallant fight for the gold after tumbling down.
“I have been running since the age 12 and I have known what the body can do. I work hard in training and each year I win something I get more confident. Tanui I know him well, twice I have raced Tola, so they were runners I knew.
London was my best moment but to defend my title here was pretty incredible,” added Farah as the Kenyans struggled to piece up what went wrong besides their defective physical forms.
He is still good, very good, Tanui
“He is still good, very good, maybe in future we shall beat him. I am getting there. If you compare where I was with him and now, it will come,” said Tanui, after his first Olympic, a laudable improvement from the bronze medals when Farah won in Beijing and Moscow.
“On track he is tough, very tough. He is still in good shape, we tried but for me it was difficult as I just resumed training three weeks ago,”said Karoki who has just come a prolonged tendon injury. He closed in for seventh in 27:22.93.
“If I was I my normal shape, he is beatable with better tactics and faster race. We were all to lap but it didn’t work out that way,” said Kamworor regretfully.
The 2015 World silver medallist slipped to 11th in 27:31.94. Unexplained chest and breathing problems early in the race hurt his chances he claimed, and was relieved to finish after dropping out at the Kenyan trials.
“If we had raced a fast race we could have won because I had prepared well. Silver is very good. The race was hard, very tough. We started slow and the main race started only the 5km,” Tanui who is based in Japan considered.
We owe Ethiopians an apology
Going over the race was even more difficult for the crestfallen Ethiopians.
“We tried our best to deliver our race plan, but we cannot beat Mo Farah for now,” Demelash conceded.
“I wanted to beat him this time but he was too strong. We owe Ethiopians an apology because we could not deliver the gold medals the country enjoyed with Kenenisa and Haile,” said Tola a marathoner who moved to track in 2014.
Bekele won the gold in Athens and Beijing while Gebreselasie was the winner in Atlanta and Sydney. Before them Emil of Zatopek of Czecheslovakia(1948 & 1952) and Viren Lasse(1972 & 1976) of Finald had won back-back golds.
Take heart fellas! Jeffrey Holland said ‘if for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived!
